The combination of lemon and poppyseed reminds me of my mother's lemon poppyseed bread that she would make every winter. Her small loaves were soft and moist. My Lemon and Poppyseed Flax cookies are certainly not my mother's bread in bite-size form, but the flavors of lemon, almond, and poppyseed always conjure up good memories of enjoying her bread at family gatherings.

By no means am I suggesting that these lemon poppyseed cookies will become a family favorite. These are easy and quick to make, vegan, and make a great bite size snack to enjoy with coffee or tea. They have the added benefits of omega 3 from freshly ground flaxseed, and do not contain butter or oil. Cookies are best enjoyed the day after making them.

Lemon Poppyseed Flax Cookies
Makes 20 small cookies

Special equipment: blender

3 1/2 T whole flaxseed
1/4 cup room temperature water
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
4-5 drops of almond oil
1/4 cup sucanat
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
3 T Poppy seeds (use less if you don't like the texture of so many seeds)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup all purpose flour

optional glaze: powdered sugar, lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare one baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a blender, finely grind the whole flaxseed. Slowly add the water and lemon juice to the ground flaxseed and blend together to make a smooth thin paste. Use a spatula to push the meal down to the bottom for even mixing. Add 4 drops of almond oil to the paste. Set to the side.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the sucanat, confectioner's sugar, poppyseeds, baking powder and all purpose flour. Make a small well in the center. Add the ground flaxseed mixture to the dry mixture and fold together with spatula to make a dough. Finish mixing the dough by gently kneading the dough together to form a large mass.

On the prepared baking sheet, place balls of dough onto the parchment. Space each ball 1" apart in four rows of five. Use a spoon to create even rounds. With a flat bottom jar or spatula push down on each ball to make an even shape. Cookies will puff up slightly during baking.  Bake 12-15 mins. Rotate cookie sheet halfway through baking until the bottoms are evenly light golden brown. 

Remove and place cookies on a cooling rack. If glazing, wait till apply the glaze until completely cool. Cookies are best enjoyed the next day.

Springerle cookies are, as readers know, some of my favorite holiday cookies to make and to give away as gifts. They are a pleasure to eat too. Traditionally they are a German Christmas cookie, flavored with anise, but I wanted to make them for Easter. Citrus peel can be used to complement the anise seed and extract in the traditional recipe, but I decided to use strictly lemon extract and lemon peel in the cookie dough, to provide the cookies with a flavor perfect for the Easter holiday.

Lemon Springerle Cookies
Follow the basic Springerle dough recipe from House on the Hill
In place of anise extract in the recipe, use 4 teaspoons of pure lemon extract. Add the peel and rind from one lemon. I did not use any additional flavors.

Baking time will vary depending on humidity, temperature, and cookie size. The ammonia scent from the hartshorn/bakers ammonia will disappear in baking. Use additional powdered sugar to add to the dough to give it enough density to roll and mold properly.  Make Springerle dough and stamp the cookies the night before you plan to bake them as they'll need to dry out overnight. For more helpful tips, you can review my previous posts on Springerle. Molds can be found at House on the Hill or the Springerle House in Strasburg PA.

Painting Springerle: Use pure lemon extract and various colors of luster dust. Luster dust can be found at a cake supplier or in the baking section of Michaels or ACMoore. Mix colors in a glass dish or metal pan. Use only a small amount of colored dust and a very small amount of lemon extract to mix them together. Use a paint brush typically used for watercolor with soft bristles. I often use two different sizes depending on the intricacy of the mold. The extract and dust mixture will evaporate quickly. Paint cookies only once they have completely cooled.

On my very first trip to Germany I caught a cold, and to help relieve my cold symptoms, Thekla Beneke made a heiße Zitrone for me to drink in the morning and evening. A heiße Zitrone, very simply, is a hot lemonade. Since returning back to the states, drinking a heiße Zitrone has become a home remedy for all of my colds, and I recommend it to all of my friends and family.

Whether it is the hot liquid or the boost of Vitamin C, or the combination there of, it soothes my sore throat and helps to clear my head. It's refreshing. Drink them as often as you need them.

heiße Zitrone
1 serving

juice from 1/2 of a fresh lemon
8oz hot water
sugar or honey, if desired

Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a coffee or teacup. Bring hot water to a boil in a teapot or microwave. Pour the hot water into the lemon juice and stir. I prefer mine without sugar or honey, but it is delicious with both. Serve hot.